Crew of gunship 'Spooky 41' are all awarded medals after raining fire on ISIS militants for NINE hours to allow rescue of 15 wounded soldiers in Afghanistan battle likened to Iwo Jima

UK Daily Mail ^ | March 3, 2020 | James Gordon

[trebb]

I guess “Spooky” sounds good, but I miss the days of “Puff the Magic Dragon” in reference to the 130 gunships...

[prophetic]

It’s one very impressive aircraft. I was recently watching some old videos of it on YouTube and how it rained horrors on the nva in Name. Btw I’m laughing on how they call the night vision optics as night vision Radar!

[fproy2222]

Somebody owes the crew in the back a drink or two. Humping ammo to load ammo and clear brass for 9 hours is hard work.

[Jumpmaster]

Nice to have a CiCthat can say something other than “Stand down.”

[prophetic]

IMHO there seems to be a constant mindset in a lot of senior officers to want to eliminate older aircrafts that are past a certain age in preference to all newer & sexier models that fires off these multi million dollars weapons per shot. The AC-10 flying Cannon and the spooky, immediately come to mind. Also I recall that one of the selling points for the hugely expensive F35 was that it can do that job but it only carries 200 rounds of ammo!

[gr8eman]

I call it “A-10 Syndrome”. can’t figure it out, then again I’m not a traitor nor do I value my opinions over other people’s lives!

[max americana]

American MSM is the enemy. The Daily mail and UK telegraph were THE ONLY 2 NEWSPAPERS which actually reported non bias the war in Iraq 2003 onwards.

While the AP drooled over dead American GI’S and wanted their own Vietnam..

[AppyPappy]

I saw one terrible stat. In WW2, the 8th AF had more deaths than the Marine Corp.

[AppyPappy]

The problem is that you can’t hide from it because the fire comes from above you. Crouching in a hole doesn’t work

[RubinBoomer]

A-10s and Spookys are two entities that one most definitely does NOT want to p*ss off.

I agree. Kinda strange it is something relatively low tech that is so impressive. Smart bombs just don't put the fear of God into the enemy until after he's blown up.

[RideForever]

Is this the crew that has the hot looking gunner that any man would die for to take to the prom? Serious intent with a playful smile. What’s not to like?

[IronJack]

ISIS troglodytes are used to hiding in caves. Which makes for convenient body disposal via Semtex charges in the entryway.

[Pollster1]

With some exceptions, they have been doing that since the Wright Brothers.

Agreed. There is a place for air to air combat, since if provides air supremacy so that the rest of the Air Force can then accomplish relevant missions. However, the whole point of the Air Force is to accomplish military objectives, not to provide fast, expensive toys for hotdog pilots.

[D Rider]

In 1943 they set the tour of duty to 25 missions. The typical crew didn’t make it past 5.

[NFHale]

Plus thermal imaging; they can pretty much light you up from anywhere above.

It’s absolute Hell from the sky when those weapon systems get going.

[Future Snake Eater]

I thought Spooky’s were CIA assets?

No, they're USAF assets under AFSOC, the Air Force's USSOCOM component command.

[niteowl77]

I saw one terrible stat. In WW2, the 8th AF had more deaths than the Marine Corp.

The RAF's Bomber Command casualty rate was bad too- actually painful to contemplate.

I have never seen a direct comparison of stats for the 8th AF fighter-bomber/close air support casualties vs the 9th AF; they would be an apple vs orange comparison in many ways, but nonetheless interesting.

[gr8eman]

12 O’Clock High is a great movie documentation of that! I used to live at the RAF base where they filmed that flick!

[Carriage Hill]

Here's my friend's PANG Capt's souvenirs -- 40mm BOFORS and 105 Howitzer -- from his 'Spectre', he gave to me a few years back:

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

Thanks for clarifying.